Alaska Army National Guard Bryant Army Airfield BASH Final EA APPENDIX H. AKARNG OPERATIONAL NOISE MANAGEMENT PLAN H-1 ALASKA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD OPERATIONAL NOISE MANAGEMENT PLAN July 2005 ALASKA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD OPERATIONAL NOISE MANAGEMENT PLAN July 2005 Prepared By: Operational Noise Program Directorate of Environmental Health Engineering U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine 5158 Blackhawk Road Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland, 21010-5403 AK ARNG Operational Noise Management Plan July 2005 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 General ..................................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1.1 History of Noise Controversy ....................................................................... 1-1 1.1.2 The Risk to Military Installations ................................................................. 1-2 1.1.3 Contending with the Risk ............................................................................. 1-4 1.1.4 The Army's Operational Noise Management Plan ....................................... 1-4 1.2 Purpose ..................................................................................................................... 1-4 1.3 Objectives ................................................................................................................. 1-4 1.4 Content ..................................................................................................................... 1-5 2 NOISE MANAGEMENT .............................................................................................. 2-1 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2-1 2.2 Noise Complaint Management ................................................................................. 2-1 2.3 Training Activities with Noise Generating Potential ............................................... 2-7 2.4 Noise Assessment ..................................................................................................... 2-8 2.4.1 Noise Zones ................................................................................................... 2-5 2.4.2 Small Arms Range Noise ............................................................................... 2-9 2.4.3 Aircraft Noise................................................................................................. 2-11 2.5 Aviation Safety ......................................................................................................... 2-12 2.6 Noise Mitigation ....................................................................................................... 2-13 2.7 Annoyance from Noise ............................................................................................. 2-14 2.8 Other Considerations ................................................................................................ 2-15 2.9 Summary .................................................................................................................. 2-15 3 STEWART RIVER TRAINING AREA 3.1 Location .................................................................................................................... 3-1 3.2 History ...................................................................................................................... 3-1 3.3 SRTA Mission and Training .................................................................................... 3-2 3.4 Noise Environment ................................................................................................... 3-2 3.5 Noise Effects ............................................................................................................ 3-2 4 AK ARNG AIRCRAFT NOISE 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4-1 4.2 Bryant Army Heliport .............................................................................................. 4-3 4.3 Juneau AAOF ........................................................................................................... 4-5 4.4 Bethel AAOF ............................................................................................................ 4-8 4.5 Nome AAOF ............................................................................................................ 4-9 4.6 Summary .................................................................................................................. 4-11 AK ARNG Operational Noise Management Plan July 2005 APPENDICES A DESCRIPTION OF THE NOISE ENVIRONMENT, NOISE EVALUATORS AND NOISE CONTOURING PROCEDURES A.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. A-1 A.2 History of Noise Evaluators .................................................................................... A-2 A.3 LEQ/DNL Noise Evaluation ................................................................................... A-3 A.4 Noise Contours ....................................................................................................... A-4 A.4.1 Aircraft Noise.............................................................................................. A-4 A.4.2 Small Arms Noise ....................................................................................... A-4 A.4.3 Single Events .............................................................................................. A-5 A.5 Noise Level Reduction Features ............................................................................. A-5 A.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. A-7 B GUIDELINES FOR COMPATIBLE LAND USE B.1 Guidelines for Considering Noise in Land Use Planning and Control ................... B-1 C GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS C.1 Glossary of Terms ................................................................................................... C-1 C.2 Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations .............................................................. C-7 D REFERENCES AND SOURCES .................................................................................... D-1 FIGURES 2-1 AK ARNG Noise Complaint Form ............................................................................... 2-3 2-2 AK ARNG Training Notification Form ......................................................................... 2-7 3-1 SRTA Location .............................................................................................................. 3-1 4-1 Location of AK ARNG Aviation Facilities .................................................................... 4-1 4-2 UH-60 Blackhawk ......................................................................................................... 4-2 4-3 C-23 Sherpa .................................................................................................................... 4-2 4-4 Location of Bryant Army Heliport ................................................................................. 4-3 4-5 C27J Spartan ................................................................................................................... 4-4 4-6 Location of Juneau AAOF ............................................................................................. 4-6 4-7 Location of Bethel AAOF .............................................................................................. 4-8 4-8 Location of Nome AAOF ............................................................................................... 4-10 4-9 UH-60 Blackhawk at Nome ........................................................................................... 4-10 TABLES 2-1 Predicted Peak Noise Level for M-16 (5.56) Rifle ......................................................... 2-10 2-2 Maximum Noise Levels for Aircraft .............................................................................. 2-11 2-3 Percentage of Population Highly Annoyed from Aircraft Noise ................................... 2-12 4-1 Aircraft Operations at BAHP ......................................................................................... 4-4 4-2 Air Traffic Activity at the JIA from 1975 to 1995 ......................................................... 4-6 4-3 Military Aircraft Activity at JIA ..................................................................................... 4-7 AK ARNG Operational Noise Management Plan July 2005 SECTION ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 GENERAL. One of the goals of the Department of the Army (DA) is to plan, initiate, and carry out actions and programs designed to minimize adverse impacts upon the quality of the human environment without impairing the Army's mission. In keeping with this goal, the Army established an Environmental Noise Management Program as the framework for the control of noise produced by Army activities since noise has been determined by the United States Congress, as recorded in the Noise Control Act of 1972, to "present danger to the health and welfare of this Nation's population" (PL 92-574 1972). The primary strategy for noise management is the Operational Noise Management Plan (ONMP). 1.1.1 HISTORY OF THE NOISE CONTROVERSY. The advent of jet aircraft in the 1950's resulted in significantly greater noise levels around commercial airports that led to an intense outcry from the public. This